Lemon drizzle cake with edible flowers

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A lemon drizzle cake is always popular on the tea time table. Why not decorate this with edible flowers for a spring treat?

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Mother’s Day, or Mothering Sunday as it is known in the UK, is a lovely British festival and is not based on the commercially chosen and based day as it is in North America and many other countries, but originates from the Christian calendar, where girls in service (and boys too) were allowed the day off to visit their “mother church”. The idea soon became linked with visiting your family, with mum’s taking the centre spot for this spring festival.

The idea of treating mothers with cake and flowers took root when during the 17th and early 18th centuries. You were allowed to bake a cake (traditionally a Simnel Cake) using ingredients from the kitchens where you worked, to take home with you as part of Refreshment Sunday – a day where fasting was relaxed for one day in memory of Jesus feeding the five thousand. The flowers associated with this lovely day are thought to originate from the young girls picking wayside flowers as they made their way home to their mother parish and families.

Whatever the origins of this special day, it is true to say that cake and flowers still play an important part of this special day for our mums. Whereas the Simnel Cake is now associated with Easter, it is in fact the original “Mothering Sunday” cake, and was often decorated with flowers in place of the little marzipan balls that are now added on the Easter version, said to represent the 11 apostles, minus Judas Iscariot, and is a rich and decadent cake filled with fruit and a marzipan layer through the middle of the cake, as well as the top.

To celebrate Mothering Sunday this year, I have decided to make my mum her favourite cake, a Lemon Drizzle Cake, decorated with crystallised violets and other edible flowers, namely daisies. Other edible spring flowers that would make a lovely finish are primroses, violas and pansies. A lemon drizzle cake is always popular on the tea time table and makes a change from all the chocolates that your mum might have been given. This is an easy recipe that dads can whip up in the kitchen with the children, and then they can all have fun with the floral décor, as well as the washing up for the day too!

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Cake

  • 225g of unsalted butter, softened
  • 225g of self-raising flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 225g of caster sugar
  • 2 lemons, large, zested, juice saved for drizzle
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 dash of milk, for mixing

Lemon drizzle

  • 175g of caster sugar

Edible flowers

  • edible flowers, a selection of daisies, violets, violas, pansies and primroses crystallised

Method

1
Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Grease and line a 900g (2lb) loaf tin with a piece of baking paper and some softened butter, or cake release spray
2
Place all of the cake ingredients, except the milk, into a large mixing bowl and beat with a hand-held mixer, or use a food mixer. Beat for 2 minutes, then add some milk to give a soft dropping consistency
3
Spoon the cake mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes, or until well risen and golden brown
4
Allow the cake to cool in the tin for a few minutes and then gently turn it out onto a wire rack with a plate underneath it
5
Make the drizzle topping by mixing the sugar and reserved lemon juice together to make a runny, thick syrup, then spoon the mixture over the warm cake. Any drizzle that falls onto the plate can be spooned back on to the cake
6
Arrange the flowers on top of the cake whilst the drizzle is warm - as it cools and hardens, it will act as a glue for the flowers and they won’t fall off. Allow to cool completely before cutting into slices and serving with tea or coffee
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Karen Burns-Booth is a freelance food & travel writer, recipe developer and food stylist with a passion for local, seasonal ingredients.

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